Sarcoma (Kaposi Sarcoma)

• Kaposi sarcoma is a cancer that begins in the cells of the lymphatic system or in blood vessels. It can lead to tumors that appear as lesions on the skin, in the mouth, nose, or throat, and in internal organs.

• Kaposi sarcoma is among the roughly 20 percent of cancers that are related to infectious diseases. Each year, infection-related cancers kill roughly 1.5 million people worldwide.

• Kaposi sarcoma was relatively rare until the 1980s, when its incidence skyrocketed due to a rapid increase in HIV infection.

• Kaposi sarcoma is the most common HIV-related malignancy worldwide. The incidence of Kaposi sarcoma dropped sharply in developed countries in the 1990s, as HIV awareness and prevention efforts grew. But the disease remains extremely common among HIV-infected patients in developing countries. This is particularly true in Africa; Kaposi sarcoma is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in several African countries.

• Traditionally, Kaposi sarcoma has almost exclusively afflicted men, but the HIV pandemic has brought a sharp increase in the number of cases in women. Children of HIV-infected women are also susceptible to Kaposi Sarcoma.

UCI/Hutchinson Center Cancer Alliance – The Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) and the Hutchinson Center have launched the UCI/Hutchinson Center Cancer Alliance, a partnership that is working to defeat Kaposi sarcoma and other infection-related cancers.

Uganda has one of the world’s highest concentrations of infection-related cancers, including Kaposi sarcoma. This makes it an ideal place for the Hutchinson Center to rapidly develop and introduce new diagnostic procedures and treatments. And it enables our researchers to collect data from a large number of patients at a single site—something that would be impossible in the developed world, where infection-related cancers are dispersed across huge areas.

UCI/Hutchinson Center Cancer Alliance is focused on identifying infectious diseases that cause cancer, develop ways to prevent or cure these diseases, and training a new generation of oncologists to care for patients in low-resource areas.

See images and video from the UCI/Hutchinson Center Cancer Alliance groundbreaking »

Leadership in treatment research – Dr. Corey Casper and colleagues are investigating new treatments for Kaposi sarcoma as one of eight core sites of the NCI-sponsored AIDS Malignancy Consortium. For more information about current AMC studies for Kaposi Sarcoma please see the AMC website.